This invention relates to a double acting shock isolator and in particular, to a double acting shock isolator that relies upon mechanical components to isolate a body from multidirectional forces.
Many types of equipment such as computers and the like, can be exposed to outside forces, such as earthquakes which can adversely effect the operation of the equipment. Shock absorbing devices have been devised to isolate this type of equipment from vibratory forces, however, for the most part these isolators relied on liquid spring technology to attain the desired results. Liquid springs do not exhibit long life because the fluids employed can break down over a period of time and are generally adversely effected by temperature. In addition, liquid springs require the use of seals which degrade and develop leaks over a period of time again reducing the usual life of the isolator. Liquid spring devices, thus do not lend themselves to applications where the isolator is required to operate for a long period of time, maintenance free in a remote location.
Although mechanical spring devices have been used for some time to isolate various types of equipment, the response of most of these springs are unidirectional and thus generally do not lend themselves to double acting applications where the spring is required to react uniformly to both compressive and tensile forces.